What I discovered after working as a chef

I fell in love with food and cooking when I was very young. I used to always go into the kitchen and help my mom out with dinner. She called me her little elf helper and for a little elf helper I didn’t think that I would end up going to college and end up in the catering and hospitality industry. I never thought that working behind the scenes in the restaurant would be so different from what I’ve had imagined! I listed down some of the things that I learned after working as a chef.

#1 People would do anything to get to the top

When you work in the kitchen, the position that you are under is very important. Many chefs would backstab their colleagues to get the higher position and so they could be more in charge. I a way I do understand that because if you under a low position, you literally get treated like shit but in my opinion you should be able to earn it from your skills.

#2 Things aren’t personal, it’s just business

When you work in the kitchen, the chances are that you will get screamed at a lot… Maybe a little less like Gordon Ramsay but still it can be very terrifying. But it’s something that you need to get used to. Chefs work under a lot of pressure and they want things to be perfect. I’ve gotten angry in the kitchen before so I can’t judge…

#3 People that you work with will become your friends

The sweet 14 hour long days. I do not miss them. I do not miss not being able to see my friends, not being able to ring my grandparents and not being able to get a good night’s sleep. But the good thing about it is that, your work mates become your friends and people that you spend your time with on your days off because your other friends don’t want to see you anymore because you are never not busy. Oh well.

#4 You will learn something new every day

When I worked in the kitchen, I learned something new every single day. Not even food wise. Since you spend so much time at work, you end up having interesting chats and get put in interesting situations sometimes. For instance, I learned how to be nice to someone, even if you don’t like them.

#5 It’s not the end of the world

When you are under a lot of pressure and something doesn’t go the way as it should, it literally feels like it’s the end of the world. Either you dropped a cake on the floor, you are too slow to the make the dishes or you messed up the other. You feel like, you want the ground to swallow you right there and then but the chefs that I worked with taught me that it’s okay. Even if all of those things happened that you still have a home to go to and food to eat and you are still here so things are good.

All in all, working as chef was a very good experience and I learned a lot! For the record, I’m not bashing the industry or anyone who is a chef, I’m just stating my experience.